In modern automotive vehicle assembly plants, automated equipment is used to assemble and inflate tires on wheels in preparation for mounting on a vehicle. This invention concerns the construction and operation of the equipment used to inflate the wheel-mounted tires.
At a typical tire inflation station, a wheel-mounted tire is conveyed onto a stationary bed beneath an overhead tire inflation head. Centering arms then engage the tire and slide it across the bed toward alignment with the inflation head. The inflation head is then moved downwardly into engagement with the wheel-mounted tire and inflation air is delivered into the interior of the tire around its bead. The head is then retracted, allowing the bead of the tire to seat and seal against the rim of the wheel.
An inherent disadvantage with the above existing technology is that it is difficult to locate the tires precisely and repeatedly in the same position beneath the inflation head. Even small variations in the positioning of the tires can produce objectionably large variation in the resultant air pressure of the tires.
With the existing tire inflating device, the tires rest directly on the stationary bed, introducing considerable frictional resistance to the sliding of the tires across the bed. Consequently, the tires resist movement by the centering arms and lead discrepancies in the uniform positioning and inflation of the tires.
The present invention overcomes or greatly minimizes such deficiencies of the prior art.